726 



FLOWER GARDEN. 



plants as are likely to become incumbrances of 

 their plant-houses. Every plant, when housed 

 for the season, should stand clear of its neigh- 

 bour — indeed, not one of the leaves or branches 

 of the one should touch those of the next. As 

 the gloom of November sets in, and onwards 

 till the beginning of February, slight fires should 

 be lighted in the mornings in damp weather, a 

 gentle heat thrown into the house, and ventila- 

 tion, particularly towards the roof, given at the 

 same time, but not to the extent of exciting the 

 plants, but only to cause circulation in the at- 

 mosphere of the house ; the impure air will be 

 dislodged, and that great enemy to plants at this 

 season, damp, completely expelled. Moderate 

 supplies of water should be given to the plants, 

 particularly to soft- wooded ones, and the greatest 

 care taken that none be carelessly spilt upon the 

 floor. Hard-wooded plants suffer less from damp, 

 and much less from cold, than such soft-wooded 

 ones as Pelargoniums, &c. ; they also require a 

 very limited supply of water at their roots, as 

 their natural winter is one of drought and dimi- 

 nished temperature. While, therefore, it may 

 be expedient to give a slight degree of fire-heat 

 where soft-wooded plants are grown, to main- 

 tain the temperature two or three degrees above 

 the freezing-point, it will not be required for the 

 others till as many degrees of frost actually 

 enter the house ; and if this can be effected by 

 covering, so much the better. During December 

 greater vigilance will be required, as it is seldom 

 till that time that frosts of any intensity of late 

 years have occurred. It should, however, be 

 borne in mind that excitement in the plants at 

 that season should be most carefully guarded 

 against. It is their season of rest, and there- 

 fore exclusion of frost is all that is required. A 

 low temperature, with abundance of air and a 

 rather dry atmosphere, are the conditions re- 

 quired to maintain such plants in a healthy state. 

 In regard to ventilation, it should be observed 

 that draughts of cold frosty air, or cold damp 

 foggy air, are equally injurious, and should be 

 avoided by not opening any part of the structure, 

 unless in fine mild clear days. At other times 

 the supply of air should be admitted either 

 through underground air-drains, or by ventila- 

 tors placed in the side- walls near the level of 

 the floor, so that, on its admission into the 

 house, it shall come in contact with the flue or 

 hot-water pipes, because in either case its tem- 

 perature will be raised to nearly that of the 

 house before it reaches the plants. It follows, 

 therefore, in cold weather, that a slight degree 

 of heat should be thrown into the pipes or flues 

 some time before ventilation is given. In vol. i. 

 many examples are given how this ventilation is 

 to be effected. Both day and night aeration are 

 highly beneficial to plants. 



We know such to be the case in nature, and 

 in following her laws in the administration of 

 food to plants we cannot go wrong. Plants, at 

 this season of the year, are more injured by 

 moist stagnant air than by a cold dry atmo- 

 sphere; and that structure must be pronounced 

 exceedingly imperfect which is not provided 

 with ample means for admitting air continually 

 both day and night, without exposing the plants 



to cold draughts blowing directly upon them ; and 

 that system of culture is assuredly erroneous that 

 would nightly confine a collection of exotic breath- 

 ing plants within the limited space of a conserva- 

 tory or greenhouse almost hermetically closed. 



In regard to watering, from the beginning of 

 October until the growing season of spring again 

 sets in, great caution is required. It must be 

 progressively reduced in quantity as the plants 

 have perfected their growth, and be entirely 

 withheld from bulbs. Deciduous plants also 

 require less than evergreen ones do. 



Regarding temperature, a genial heat should 

 be kept up in autumn, which may in general be 

 effected by shutting up early, and so enclosing a 

 degree of solar heat sufficient for securing the 

 ripening of the wood. Again, in spring, slight 

 fires may be applied to assist in stimulating 

 vegetation in the plants. In both cases, how- 

 ever, it will be most beneficial if applied during 

 the day instead of during the night ; for few 

 mistakes are more fatal than keeping up a night 

 temperature by fire-heat, equal to and often 

 greater than that during the day. The very 

 reverse ought to be the case. Amateurs would 

 do well to bear in mind that plants require to 

 go to sleep during the night as well as them- 

 selves, and this they cannot do if stimulated by 

 a greater temperature during the night than 

 during the day. There is no country in the 

 world where the night temperature is so high as it 

 is during the day, nor should it be so in our plant 

 or forcing houses. Notwithstanding many of the 

 Pelargoniums and Ericas grow together in the 

 same soil and the same situation at the Cape of 

 Good Hope, their native place of growth, yet, in 

 cultivation, the heaths will withstand a degree of 

 cold, nay, even be improved by it, that would be 

 certain death to the geranium; and the same rule 

 holds good in the case of almost all hard-wooded 

 and soft-wooded plants from whatever country 

 they may come ; and hence the difficulty of cul- 

 tivating a mixed collection in the same house. 

 To attain anything approaching perfection in 

 the cultivation of greenhouse plants, it is abso- 

 lutely necessary, more especially during winter, 

 to have all soft- wooded plants in one structure, 

 and hard - wooded ones in another ; for the fire- 

 heat necessary for the preservation of the for- 

 mer, would be exceeding injurious to the latter. 

 The minimum night temperature which soft- 

 wooded plants will withstand without injury 

 may be taken at 34°; the maximum during 

 winter at 42° during the day, as a general rule, 

 allowing 2° or 3° of a rise from sun-heat. 



The majority of hard - wooded greenhouse 

 plants, on the other hand, will not suffer should 

 the temperature fall to 30°, and many even 

 should it fall to 25° — a depression fatal to all 

 plants of a soft-wooded nature, unless such as 

 die down to the ground annually, known as 

 herbaceous plants. Such, therefore, being the 

 case, the importance of having two distinct 

 houses will be sufficiently apparent. No doubt 

 both hard-wooded and soft- wooded plants are too 

 often made to exist in the same house during 

 winter; but it is merely a state of existence, in 

 which either the one or the other, nay, probably 

 both, suffer exceedingly. 



